Monday, April 7, 2008

Day 36, Thursday 20th March. Albany - Walpole

Day 36

Thursday 20th March

Albany – Walpole

120kms

Both Harv and I woke quite early because we couldn’t sleep. The washing I had put in the dryer was still wet. So no dry bike clothes. We hung some things out around the room and went to the shops to get some brekkie goods. After breakfast the clothes were dry enough to pack away in our bags so we got moving.

Our first stop for the day was Denmark. I wanted to show Harv a cool little café I had been to there before so we dropped in for a Chai tea, and an Ice Chocolate. You probably may have noticed if you’ve read this far that the tour is evolving around food ey? We ate some tinned spaghetti in sangas, and chatted with a local bloke who was drinking beers at a park bench over lunch. He had a bike with half a slab on the back, but he didn’t really have to much to say.

From Denmark we made our way through the hills to Walpole. I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of this area. Surrounded by huge Tingle wood forest, it was the most amazing part of the trip for me. We were both exhausted from the intensity of the hills, and we were putting in a good effort averaging around 21kms an hour through the hills for around 120kms. On the downhills I took my hands of the handlebars and felt like I was flying. Its hard to describe the feeling, but I guess I felt in someway I had found part of what I was searching for by doing this bike ride. I guess it was a feeling of freedom, an amazing state of living.

Everywhere in Walpole was closed except for the pub. We had a huge day and we decided to get a good dinner, and have a couple of beers. We got a few strange comments from dodgy looking locals when we showed up in bike gear, and then proceeded to spend $20 on the dodgiest Roast Chicken I’ve eaten. The bloke who worked behind the bar told us we could camp behind a big shed next to the pub so we set up the tents behind it, had some more 2-minute noodles, and hit the hey.